Solar and wind power have been the 2 front runners to be the new next big renewable energy resource.
A solar sail (5,220 miles wide) would get the power in the solar wind
Using this concept they hope to generate 1 billion billion gigawatts of power back to earth
IF THEY COULD GET THE POWER BACK TO EARTH (IT WOULD BE JUST FINE)
Problems: Solar wind isn't like wind back on earth and the satellite wouldn't generate electricity like a windmill
The proposed satellite would use a charged copper wire to grab electrons from the sun
The main problem would be getting the power and electricity back to earth from the satellite without losing all of the power that it just gained
Quotes: According to the team's calculations, 300 meters (984 feet) of copper wire, attached to a two-meter-wide (6.6-foot-wide) receiver and a 10-meter (32.8-foot) sail, would generate enough power for 1,000 homes.
A satellite with a 1,000-meter (3,280-foot) cable and a sail 8,400 kilometers (5,220 miles) across, placed at roughly the same orbit, would generate one billion billion gigawatts of power.
That's approximately 100 billion times the power Earth currently uses
A satellite with a 1,000-meter (3,280-foot) cable and a sail 8,400 kilometers (5,220 miles) across, placed at roughly the same orbit, would generate one billion billion gigawatts of power.
That's approximately 100 billion times the power Earth currently uses